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How to fold an origami steam locomotive

Fold one long green sheet into a strip. Reverse-fold the back end up as the cab and crimp a chimney up near the front. Fold three round black wheels and glue them on.

You need: Green paper 45 × 7 cm, two 8 cm and one 6 cm black squares, glue and a white pen. Hard, 20 steps, about 35 minutes.

Steps

  1. Edges to the middle. Start white side up. Fold the top and bottom edges in to meet along the middle.
  2. Fold in half. Mountain-fold it in half along the middle, so the top half goes behind. Now it is a long thick strip, green on both sides: the boiler.
  3. Cab. Outside-reverse-fold the back end straight up, on a 45° crease from the bottom edge. It stands up tall as the cab.
  4. Chimney up. Near the front, outside-reverse-fold the long front end straight up, on a 45° crease from the bottom edge.
  5. Chimney down. A little way up, fold the upright part straight back down over itself, square across. The fold at the top is the chimney's rim.
  6. Boiler front. At the top of the boiler, fold the end forward on a 45° crease, so it runs on along the bottom. The chimney now stands up on the boiler.
  7. Cowcatcher. Fold the bottom front corner behind on a slant. The sloping front at the bottom is the cowcatcher.
  8. Back wheel: new sheet. Set the engine aside. Take a big black square, white side up.
  9. Back wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to meet in the middle.
  10. Back wheel: hub. Fold each point back out a little, so a small white square shows in the middle. That's the hub.
  11. Back wheel: round it. Fold the four points of the square a little way behind, so the wheel looks round.
  12. Middle wheel: new sheet. Set it aside and take the other big black square, white side up.
  13. Middle wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to meet in the middle.
  14. Middle wheel: hub. Fold each point back out a little, so a small white square shows in the middle. That's the hub.
  15. Middle wheel: round it. Fold the four points of the square a little way behind, so the wheel looks round.
  16. Front wheel: new sheet. Set it aside and take the small black square, white side up.
  17. Front wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to meet in the middle.
  18. Front wheel: hub. Fold each point back out a little, so a small white square shows in the middle. That's the hub.
  19. Front wheel: round it. Fold the four points of the square a little way behind, so the wheel looks round.
  20. Build the engine. Glue the wheels on the side of the engine, half below it: the big two under the cab and the middle, the small one under the chimney.

Choo choo!

Draw a white window on the cab. Puff along the table and toot at every station!

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